Investigation launched into maternal death at Diamond Hospital

A mother of four was pronounced dead at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre (the East Bank Demerara Regional Hospital) on Tuesday after carrying a dead baby inside her womb for five days.

The woman, Carol Suniram, of Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara, had suffered a miscarriage on Friday and was prescribed pills by a doctor at the Diamond hospital to pass out the five-month-old foetus.
Speaking with Guyana Times, the dead woman’s sister-in-law, J Singh, stated that on Friday last the 39-year-old woman was told that the baby had died inside her. “She told me that she lose the baby and that it still inside of her, so I tell her come leh we go to the hospital and get it out, but she was determined that the doctor told her to use the pills and return today (Tuesday),” the woman said.
On Tuesday, Suniram went to the hospital to do the operation but died while in surgery.
Public Health Minister, Dr George Norton, when contacted, stated that he was unaware of the maternal death and would be looking into the matter immediately.
This newspaper was told that an investigation had been launched into the incident. The woman’s body was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where a post-mortem would be done.
Only on Monday, the Minister disclosed that Guyana’s maternal mortality rate was declining. Recently, a United Nations report disclosed that Guyana was among five countries in the Region with the highest maternal mortality rate.
As of December 30, 2015, Guyana had recorded 17 cases of maternal deaths— which is one case short of the 2014 figure. This is the cause of the country missing its goal to reduce maternal deaths by three-quarters between the years 1990 and 2015. The maternal mortality ratio has decreased from 270 per cent in 1990 to 86 per cent in 2012. Therefore, in order to achieve its target, Guyana would have had to reduce its maternal mortality rate to 67.5 per cent by the end of 2015.